A deal to end the Iran war seemed close. Then Trump started posting on social media
As the weekend approached, it looked like the United States and Iran would end the deal. seven weeks war.
President Donald Trump then did exactly what his staff had repeatedly said they wouldn’t do: He appeared to try negotiating through the press, posting about ongoing talks on social media and speaking to several reporters by phone Friday morning as Pakistani intermediaries briefed him on ongoing talks with Iranian officials in Tehran.
He claimed that Iran had agreed to a set of provisions that sources familiar with the negotiations said had not yet been finalized. He also suggested that Tehran had agreed to many of the United States’ most controversial demands, including the delivery of enriched uranium, and declared that the war would end soon.
Iranian officials have seemingly denied most of these allegations and quickly quashed growing optimism about the deal by denying that they were preparing for a new round of negotiations. It is no longer clear where the peace talks will go from here.
Some Trump officials acknowledged privately to CNN that the president’s public comments hurt the negotiations, noting the sensitivity of the talks and the Iranians’ deep distrust of the United States. Further complicating matters: American officials suspect a split between the negotiating team led by Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, raising questions about who might ultimately sign the deal.
“The Iranians did not appreciate the fact that POTUS was negotiating via social media and appearing to sign off on issues that they had not yet agreed to and that were unpopular at home,” a person familiar with the talks told CNN, adding that the Iranians were particularly concerned about appearing weak.
Among the president’s claims: Trump he told Bloomberg It was stated that Iran agreed to suspend its nuclear program “indefinitely”. HE he told CBS News Tehran “agreed to everything” and would work with the United States to extract its enriched uranium. And he I told Axios “I think we’ll reach an agreement in the next day or two,” he said, adding that a meeting “will probably be held over the weekend.”
The fragile ceasefire between Washington and Tehran was tested once again on Sunday when a US guided missile destroyer opened fire. Iranian cargo ship seized He further angered the Iranians after he tried to bypass the US naval blockade in the Gulf of Oman.
Now, as the expiration of a two-week ceasefire approaches, Trump again faces a decision: accept a deal, even an imperfect one, or escalate a conflict he once said would be over?
On Monday, officials in Iran appeared less resistant to resuming talks. But the contours of any pending deal remained unclear.
“Thanks to President Trump’s negotiating ability, the United States has never been this close to a good deal with Iran, unlike the terrible deal the Obama administration made,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. “Anyone who cannot see President Trump’s long-term game-playing tactics is either stupid or willfully ignorant.”
Trump has set several red lines for the negotiations, including requiring Iran to freeze its uranium enrichment and surrender its stockpile of near-bomb material. Meanwhile, Tehran insists that it be allowed to retain control of the Strait of Hormuz, while also demanding that US sanctions be lifted.
A source familiar with the discussions said that in the first round of talks, American negotiators proposed a 20-year pause on Iran’s uranium enrichment. Iran responded with an offer of a five-year suspension, which the United States rejected, according to a U.S. official.
One recent proposal by Iran involves a 10-year pause on enrichment, followed by another decade during which Iran would agree to enrich only to levels well below weapons grade, according to a person familiar with the discussions. Meanwhile, Trump told reporters that he does not want to get rich indefinitely and is against even a 20-year pause.
The Trump administration is also considering unfreezing $20 billion in assets in Iran as part of ongoing negotiations with Tehran. CNN previously reported. This step will take place in exchange for Iran handing over its stock of highly enriched uranium.
How flexible each side is on its terms will ultimately determine whether an agreement can be reached. One imperative for Trump is not to accept an agreement that could be likened to the Obama-era Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action; The Iran nuclear deal, from which he withdrew in 2018 and which he has consistently derided as weak.
Negotiators hope to establish at least a framework understanding between the United States and Iran that will lead to more detailed talks on the finer points of the agreement in the coming weeks. However, this approach also has its opponents; These warn that Iran could prolong the discussions as a time game as it uncovers some missile systems buried during the war.
Trump emphasized Monday that he felt no pressure to reach a deal, despite the war’s growing popularity with the American public and its role in rising gas prices.
“I’m not under any pressure, but everything will happen relatively quickly!” He wrote at Truth Social.
It was unclear as of Monday afternoon whether any advisers shared the president’s concerns that his propensity for delegations could harm talks. By noon, he had posted more than 900 words about the war on Truth Social multiple times.
His public statements continued to increase the uncertainty surrounding the negotiations.
At one point Sunday morning, Trump told a number of callers that Vice President J.D. Vance would not participate in that round of talks, citing unspecified security concerns. Simultaneously, two senior officials in his government – United Nations Ambassador Mike Waltz and Energy Secretary Chris Wright – went on television to say that Vance would, in fact, lead the delegation in Islamabad, as he had in the first round.
It turns out they were right and Trump was wrong. “Things have changed,” a White House official told CNN when asked what happened.
A day later, Trump offered another confusing update, this time about the whereabouts of No. 2. He told a reporter calling from the New York Post that Vance was in the air and was preparing to land in Pakistan in a few hours for talks. A few minutes later, Vance’s motorcade arrived in the West Wing, including the vice president.
“We expect the delegation to depart soon,” a White House official said.
People familiar with the plans said Vance planned to leave Washington on Tuesday for the talks, which Trump claimed on Sunday would take place Monday evening.
But negotiations are on track to start in Islamabad on Wednesday morning. Sources warned, in an understatement, that the situation remained “fluid.”
The fate of the two-week ceasefire, which will end soon, is similar. Exactly when the deadline falls has also seemingly changed, according to Trump’s phone call with a reporter on Monday. He first announced the ceasefire at 6:32 p.m. ET on April 7 and spent two weeks in Washington on Tuesday evening.
But Trump told Bloomberg that the ceasefire expired “Wednesday evening Washington time” and that he had to decide whether to follow through on his threat to blow up Iranian bridges and power plants, a possible war crime. He added that it was “highly unlikely” it would be extended further.
But he had previously gone back and forth on whether he would agree to extend the ceasefire. In a question-and-answer session with journalists last week, he was asked five times whether he would extend the ceasefire and gave three different answers:
At one point he said firmly: “If there is no agreement, the fighting will start again.” He later offered that he would offer an extension if necessary: ”I’ll do that if necessary.” In another response, he suggested the question was moot given the state of negotiations: “We’ll see. I don’t know if it will be necessary. Ideally, we won’t.”
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